The One-Woman Show with Amanda Luecke

The Forrager Podcast for Cottage Food Businesses

Amanda Luecke lives in Maple Grove, MN and sells custom decorated cookies with her cottage food business, Minnie’s Cookies.

Janna Paterno shared her cookie business journey back in Episode 61, and like Janna, Amanda creates some of the best decorated cookies you’ve ever seen.

But unlike Janna, Amanda has no plans to shutdown her business anytime soon. Quite the opposite, in fact. Her cookie business is absolutely thriving!

She has over 26k followers on Instagram, is always fully booked months in advance (despite her high pricing), and now runs an increasing number of cookie decorating classes that bring in about $2,000 each.

But as glamourous as all of that may seem, Amanda is very open and honest about the fact that trying to juggle everything as a one-woman show has definitely not been easy, especially as a stay-at-home mom of two young kids.

In this episode, you’ll get to hear how Amanda went from knowing absolutely nothing about cookie decorating to building the super successful business she has today.

What You’ll Learn

• Why you need to be willing to get scrappy when starting your business
• How to use transparent pricing to save yourself time
• If you can support a family by selling custom decorated cookies
• How to teach in-person decorating classes to a large group of students
• How to get thousands of Instagram followers
• Why it’s so hard for an entrepreneur to play the game of social media
• The surprising truth about collaborating with other influencers
• Why you should be focused on community instead of competition
• Recommended equipment & tools to make your cookies more professional
• Why Amanda only offers pickup for her cookies
• All of the different things you have to learn & juggle when starting a cottage food business

Resources

Minnie’s Cookies website (Instagram | Facebook | TikTok)

Facebook Groups:

• Cookie Decorating For Beginners
• Sugar Cookie Marketing

Projectors for cookie decorating:

• AAXA Pico Pocket Projector
• Kodak Luma 150 Ultra Mini Pocket Projector
• AKASO Mini Pocket-Sized Projector

Airbrushes:

• Artfully Designed Creations Airbrush System
• Fehrominger Portable Cordless Airbrush Gun Set

Packaging:

• POLONO PL60 4×6″ Thermal Label Printer
• Canva (for designing labels)
• METRONIC 8″ Impulse Heat Sealer
• Cellophane 4×6″ Bags on Amazon
• Clear Bags (bags, boxes, & packaging)
• BRP Box Shop (bags, boxes, & packaging)

Photography:

• Adobe Lightroom (the mobile app has a free version)
• Photography backdrops on Amazon

Get full show notes and transcript here: https://forrager.com/podcast/67